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Parren
Back to species or Table of Contents *parren characters are featured in Kantovan Vault, Defiance, Croma Venture, and Rando Splicer Physiology *humanoid *cognitive functions: all parren have extreme mental discipline and self-control (KV-21) *all parren capable of psychological phase focus and flux *no body fat *Wide indigo eyes, flared cheekbones, slitted nostrils (KV-1, Aristan) *smaller than humans, slighter build, but fierce *most parren (in House Harmony, anyway) have indigo blue eyes *hairless, parren prefer baldness *more humanoid than tavalai and kuhsi: It was literally a revelation to see how closely the parren body mirrored the human, save for longer arms, narrower waist and that strange, flat-topped head with the narrow jaw and wide cheekbones. Tavalai were also humanoid, to use the chauvinistic term, but far less-so than this, and even kuhsi had those double-articulated ankle-joints and short, padded feet for extra spring. Seeing Milek in civvies was almost enough for Dale to reconsider his disdain of those crazy conspiracy-cultists who insisted that all humanoid aliens had a common ancestor whose seed had been spread about the galaxy by the Ancients many millions of years ago...(KV-21) Phase Flux Explained in Kantovan Vault ch 11 *Parren civilisation was dominated by the fear of changing moods **parren called it a ‘phase’ *”It (psychological phase) is fundamental to their daily lives, and they’ve fought wars over states-of-mind as humans have fought wars over political ideology.” (KV-2) *There were five primary parren phases, and it was no accident that there were also five primary parren Houses, one for each: **Acquisitive, Creative, Enquiry, Fortitude, Harmony *Each phase was a personality, and most parren switched personalities several times in a life *Switching between phases was called a troidna, meaning a ‘flux’ *When a parren switched phases, they moved from one of the great parren Houses to another. * When common-folk fluxed, it caused little concern. *When great leaders fluxed, the foundations of great institutions rattled. *And when huge numbers of parren all switched together at the same time, in response to some calamitous event…(KV-11) Five Houses There were five primary parren phases, and it was no accident that there were also five primary parren Houses, one for each. (KV-11) *House Harmony, Creative, Enquiry, Fortitude, and Acquisitive * “Today the dominant House is House Fortitude. House Enquiry rules second, then House Harmony. (KV-2) *each house has 15-20 denominations (D-7). The Domesh denomination of House Harmony has long been the most despised and feared because of its alliance with drysine machine race 25,000 years ago *mass psychological flux can bring down the House Dress *The Domesh wear black robes and hoods *Incefhad wear white robes *others in full color, big head pieces, etc: A row of robed figures emerged from each doorway, yet these were not the black and austere robes of Aristan’s kind. These were dazzling, red and gold and blue, their hems sweeping the black-scarred pad surface. Jewellery gleamed on tanned parren arms and fingers, and indigo eyes fixed on Lisbeth beneath headdress and crests of gold and other, precious decoration. (KV-11) Drakhil of Tahrae/ Harmony & Drysine Alliance *all parren houses, including Drakhil of House Harmony, Tahrae denomination, allied with machine-race drysine faction about 25,000 years ago and wiped out the vicious deepynine machines — but some deepynines fled to towards alo space (beyond croma space (D-32) *but then organics betrayed their drysine allies “The Drakhil I knew was a scholarly man, not unlike our Professor Romki here.” Romki beamed. “He was a most reluctant warrior who saw two paths before his people, and liked neither. Drakhil believed that his people owed the drysines a debt, and he disliked and distrusted aliens more than he disliked the drysines. We know that Drakhil was granted the drysine data core that we seek by the last drysine command, twenty five thousand years ago, before the last fall of the Drysine Empire. (KV-2) In the Age of the Machines, House Harmony was dominant. It was the philosophy of harmony that lead the great Harmony leaders of the day to seek harmonious relations with the dominant AI-factions. The machines were not always interested, but the drysine faction was. They created the drysine-parren alliance, and drysine and parren fought side by side in the Great Machine War against the deepynines. (KV-2) “When the final victory came, a parren named Drakhil was the leader of House Harmony. The other parren houses were persuaded by other species, particularly the chah’nas and the tavalai, to turn on their drysine masters following their terrible casualties against the deepynines. All turned, save for one faction of House Harmony —that faction led by Drakhil. The Tahrae, they were called." (KV-2) “Drakhil was the leader of House Harmony in the last great wars of the Machine Age. He sided his faction, the Tahrae, with the drysines against the deepynines, and fought against his own people and all other organics for the continued supremacy of the machines. For this, parren history has never forgiven him, nor his House. He is the ultimate traitor to the opposing parren Houses and denominations. (KV-2) *Payback from drysine “You would bring this evil here?” Tobenrah insisted, and it was certainly fear in his eyes now. “These relics of the Tahrae, who sided with the machines to end the lives of billions of their own people? You lost nearly ten billion in the destruction of Earth. The parren lost nearly forty! Forty billion! Entire worlds turned to ashes! Systems in ruins! And you seek to bring it back!” (KV-33) *Drakhil’s diary, with information on the drysine data core, was found in Tonchalda System, which belonged to parren House Harmony / Tahrae denomination about 25,000 years ago. Legendary tavalai scholar Cheliratanga found Drakhil’s diary — a 25-stamp-job stored in the Kantovan Vault (KV-8) Revelations on Fortitude *"Naraya was the capital world of all House Fortitude, and this, Shonedene, was the ruling complex of House Fortitude, their equivalent of what the Kunadeen on Prakasis was to House Harmony.” (CV-15) *An ancient city was recently uncovered beneath House Fortitude temple in Shonedene, uncovering a dark secret 25,000 years old (CV). *"Fortitude was rocked, shaken to its core. In this system alone, parren were phasing in their millions. Beyond this system, as starships carried video and other news to neighbouring systems and across all parren space, likely hundreds of millions more. Perhaps billions. Not all were phasing to House Harmony —the flux was not so convenient for the politically disruptive as that. But mostly they were abandoning House Fortitude en masse as the suppositions that had once underpinned the greatest of parren houses for the last twenty five thousand years fled away. Shonedene city ground to a halt. There shoveren psychologist-priests tried desperately to attend to the psychologically afflicted, gathering them in great arenas as the hospitals and health centres overflowed." (CV) Characters HOUSE HARMONY in alpha order: *Aristan - Head of the Domesh denomination of House Harmony *Drakhil - long-dead leader who collaborated with the drysines 25,000 years ago (see Machine-race) ** in Machine Age, Head of House Harmony and head of the Tahrae denomination. He knew Styx *Gesul of the Domesh - Domesh denomination; second to Aristan, but ideological differences: Your brother, Lisbeth Debogande, may have found the truth. About the Domesh, about Drakhil, about the drysines even. Some of us welcome truth. Others do not. I will rescue this truth, and with it, the soul of the Domesh, and the true soul of House Harmony." (D-8) *Golev — a Domesh acolyte, one of Aristan’s most trusted, with his partner Milek (KV) * Milek - a Domesh acolyte (KV), LT Dale's "Mystery Boy" (KV-25) *Orun - Lisbeth’s Chief of Communications (CV) *Rehnar - leader of Incefahd denomination House Harmony after Tobenrah died defending Defiance, when Incefahd ruled all of House Harmony. He tried to kill Gesul of Domesh denomination / Harmony (CV-5) *Semaya - bodyguard assassin to Lisbeth, serving Gesul. She later becomes Lisbeth’s Chief of Staff. Lisbeth’s staff includes Orun, Risa, Dolumev, and Timoshene as bodyguard. As Togreth, Semaya serves all of House Harmony, not only Domesh denomination, with expertise in history. Like all high-class parren, Semaya was impossibly graceful. Her robes were light and silken, of subtle blues and greens, and tasteful jewellery on her wrists and ankles. Unlike the Domesh of this temple, she did not wear black, and made no attempt to cover her appearance. Slender and utterly hairless, Lisbeth thought her very beautiful, in that ethereal, alien way of her people.” (KV 13) *Timoshene - Lisbeth’s Tokara, charged to guard her and possibly kill her. He serves Gesul *Tobenrah - leader of Incefahd denomination, Harmony's largest denomination, thus ruler of House Harmony, too (see Kantovan Vault and Defiance) **succeeded by Rehnar (see Croma Venture) HOUSE AQUISITIVE, 25,000 years ago: *Jin Danah, head of House Acquisitive, betrayed drysine allies, coveting their technology, etc. (D-31) *“He (Jin Danah) was deposed by Molary, of a rival denomination of House Acquisitive, followed by war between House Acquisitive and House Fortitude, then further instability, until Sheray arose as leader of House Acquisitive from a new denomination, and a period of stability as ruler of all the Parren Empire” (D-31) HOUSE FORTITUDE: *Alired - Fortitude’s ambassador to Defiance. A hard-edged woman (CV) *Sordashan - Head of House Fortitude (CV) Category:Characters Category:Species